At the side, Sanji grabbed Luffy by the collar and demanded to know why he knew Uta.
Just then, everyone watched Ace get hurled high into the air and drop straight into the sea.
Every last one of them was so shocked their jaws nearly hit the floor.
"Wait, Cain! Ace is a Devil Fruit user!"
Nami's anxious shout cut across the water.
Uta, however, only smiled faintly and gave Cain a small nod before lightly moving her fingers and withdrawing her power.
Her Sing-Sing Fruit was extremely unusual.
It was not a physical attack that worked through contact. Instead, it pulled a person's consciousness into her musical world, while their body merely fell into what looked like ordinary sleep.
Even if the target were soaked in seawater, the effect would not be undone.
The only way to break it was from Uta's side. Aside from seawater and Seastone affecting her body as a user, unless she chose to release the power herself, or fell asleep and lost control, it would continue.
The moment the ability was canceled, the icy seawater and the familiar feeling of weakness jolted Ace awake.
His eyes snapped open, and only then did he realize he had been bound tightly in thick iron chains.
Seawater rose from his chest all the way to his neck, leaving his whole body limp and powerless!
He struggled to tilt his head back, and his gaze met Cain standing at the bow.
"So… it was… glug glug… you… Cain… glug… you…"
The seawater churned up by the moving ship kept pouring into his mouth, leaving his words broken and choked.
"Sorry, Ace. It's for your own good."
Cain's tone was flat, but there was not a trace of malice in his expression.
"The way you brothers show your 'love' is really something special."
Zoro leaned against the rail, glanced toward the water, and could not help commenting.
Once he confirmed that the water level would not drown Ace, he stopped worrying.
"Well, the older generation's love is always deep!"
Cain spread his hands as though it were perfectly natural.
"As his grandchildren, of course we have to carry on the tradition."
The "older generation" he meant was obviously Garp.
"But is this really okay?"
Nami still could not stop worrying, and kept looking toward Ace floating in the sea.
"Relax. He won't die." Cain answered casually.
"We used to do this all the time when we were kids. Besides, with that Flame-Flame Fruit of his, his fire's way too intense! Letting him soak down there and cool off a bit is good for him."
Once Luffy confirmed that Ace was fine, he relaxed too. He had no idea why Cain was doing this, but after hearing that explanation, he nodded hard.
Yeah, it made sense. Letting him soak for a while was for his own good!
Thinking back to the training sessions Garp had put them through, this bit of seawater really was nothing to Ace.
Besides, even now that Ace was a Devil Fruit user, just listening to him yelling down there made it clear he was still full of energy.
He was nothing like Luffy himself, who became completely immobile the moment he fell into the sea.
At that moment, Uta waved at Luffy with a bright smile.
"Luffy, long time no see."
"Ah! Uta! Long time no see!"
Luffy's eyes lit up, and then, as if something clicked, he blurted out.
"Uta, did you come with Cain? So that's why Cain suddenly left back then — he went to pick you up, right?"
"So that little head of yours can work things out after all."
Cain laughed and pressed a hand to Luffy's head, rubbing it lightly.
"Uta needs to stay with us for a while so she can work toward her dream. What do you think?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
Luffy agreed without even thinking and immediately turned to Uta with an eager invitation.
"Uta, join us! We just happen to need a musician!"
"Nope."
Cain cut him off at once.
"Did you forget? Uta's dream is to become the world's number one diva! If she becomes a pirate, then no matter how influential she gets, people will always fear her in the end."
After all, in the world of One Piece, too many people had suffered because of pirates.
Once someone carried the label of pirate, then no matter how dazzling they were, it would be hard for everyone to truly admire them from the heart.
At that point, no matter how good she was, becoming the world's greatest diva would be impossible.
"Oh! I almost forgot!"
Luffy quickly waved his hands in apology.
"Sorry, sorry, Uta! You can stay on the ship as long as you want!"
Uta smiled and replied, "Okay. Then let's count it as punishment for losing the contest to me."
"The contest?!" Luffy's eyes flew open.
The promise with Shanks about the straw hat, and his dream of becoming Pirate King, were so overwhelming that he had nearly forgotten about that contest entirely.
Cain raised a brow, sounding rather smug.
"This time, I won first. Uta came second. You were last, Luffy. My foolish little brother — you lost fair and square."
As he said that, Cain tapped Luffy on the forehead with two fingers coated in Armament Haki, and a huge lump instantly swelled up on his smooth forehead!
Luffy clutched his head and was just about to protest when he caught sight of five large ships rushing toward them from the horizon.
They were Baroque Works' pursuing forces.
Ace had openly shown the Whitebeard Pirates' mark on his back earlier, and with his bounty of 550 million Beli, he had naturally drawn those people over.
"Hey, Cain… glug… ptoo!"
Ace spat out a mouthful of seawater.
By now, he had adjusted his position and was no longer choking, and his eyes had turned sharp.
"Enough fooling around. I'll handle these guys for you."
Cain did not even look at him.
Whatever.
As long as Ace stayed tied up tight, Cain could just package him up and hand him over to Garp later.
Suddenly, several cannonballs came flying straight at the Going Merry.
Cain leapt up into the air and swung his staff, knocking the cannonballs back the way they came with just a few easy strikes.
Unexpectedly, one of the cannonballs — fired by some idiot, apparently — went off-course and smashed into the sea right beside the Merry!
The impact made the ocean surge violently, and the ship lurched hard, flinging Ace up into the air.
In the very next instant, flames burst across Ace's entire body.
The iron chains passed straight through his transformed body of fire, and with fire burning beneath his feet, he hovered steadily in midair and bared his teeth at Cain.
"Long time no see — my ass! What kind of welcome is this, Cain?!"
As he shouted, blazing fire ignited in his hand.
"Fire Fist!"
The flames on Ace's fist erupted, swelling wildly.
Then, with a violent swing, he launched the attack.
The fist of fire condensed into a gigantic flaming punch as large as a ship and slammed straight toward the enemy vessels with scorching force.
"So cool!"
"That's amazing!"
Luffy jumped around excitedly.
Chopper clapped wildly beside him, and even Nami could not help nodding along.
Unlike in the original story, this time Ace had been brought to the Going Merry by Cain and had not had time to bring his small boat along.
Without his own boat to help him reposition, he had no way to freely adjust the angle of his attack.
And since the pursuing ships had spread out in an arc, Ace's downward Fire Fist could not wipe them all out at once.
It only destroyed three of the ships.
"Heh. What's the big deal? I can do 'Fire Fist' too."
Cain said this with open disdain, raising his head toward Ace in the air.
He truly had not expected Ace to break free just because the ship had jolted from one cannon shot.
Cain walked to the stern, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly.
"Ace, watch closely! This is my — Fire Fist!"
Cain opened his mouth.
Pale fangs emerged, and his face gradually took on draconic features as scorching fire gathered in his throat.
The next moment, a blazing column of fire burst out from the stern of the Going Merry and instantly sank the remaining two enemy ships.
"So it comes out of your mouth?! Does that really count as Fire Fist? That's obviously Fire Breath, okay?! You didn't even use your fist — it was just for decoration! …I literally saw you spit it out with your mouth! Waving your fist afterward doesn't count if it's already too late!!!"
Ace swayed in the air, nearly dropping out of the sky, and shouted his complaint at Cain.
Everyone on the ship looked speechless.
Only Uta, however, was watching Cain with particular fascination.